Robert Dreyfuss of the Middle East Institute poo-poohs caliphate idea

Submitted by Mark James (United States), Dec 17, 2005 at 22:27

Robert Dreyfuss said that the idea of creating a Caliphate from N. Africa to SE Asia was a fantasy that ought to be dismissed. Then he says instead that the US should help resolve conflicts in "Kashmir, Chechnya, Sudan and Palestine." Of course, setting up democratic states in those areas would ensure the Islamists came to power eventually, as in Iraq, or right away, as with Hamas in Gaza and the W. Bank. This would further Islamists in their goal of having an unbroken string of states from SE Asia to N. Africa, allowing Jihadists easy travel without any security fences guarded by infidels blocking their way.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C12%5C17%5Cstory_17-12-2005_pg7_45
[snip] At the Middle East Institute [http://www.mideasti.org], Dreyfuss described as "idiotic" the notion that Islamist forces wished to establish a Caliphate from North Africa to Southeast Asia. This was utter nonsense, he said. [snip]The US should also help resolve such nagging conflicts as Kashmir, Chechnya, Sudan and Palestine.[snip]

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